Apotheosis; Briefly

A bolt of blue lightning surges from the tip of the staff. The bolt streaks across the room and slams into the chest of one of the Ratmen in the group of three that were approaching. It explodes outwards and sends the other ones surrounding it careening to the ground. The smell of seared fur, and bubbling flesh stains the air. One of the two remaining stood and stumbled forward for a second before falling face down.

Energy beyond comprehension flows through me. If I didn't focus, all of this energy would flow into my heart and would pop like a grape. Redirecting the energy to let it spin within my core was only a temporary stopgap, I need to release more as quickly as possible. I take a step forward. Even that amount of motion was enough to break my concentration. The bit of mana that managed to slip out, and up. I push it down towards my legs. I needed to get rid of some of the excess energy before it overwhelmed me. My core burned as if I had swallowed a bead of molten metal, as the wayward mana is pushed down out of my feet.

The skin on my feet breaks apart, and the soles of my shoes are blown to bits as the mana flows into the ground. Black streaks, like broken glass, splintered from my steps across the ground. There was no pain, however; though I could no longer will my leg forward. I could barely stand.

A shadow loomed over me as the large Ratman closed the distance between the two of us. I hadn't seen it until now as half of my vision had been stolen from me. A heavy blow from the creature's large, iron mace strikes me on my left shoulder and sends me flying backward a few feet. Still, I feel no pain, as if all of my nerves had been fried. I catch myself before I fall flat on the ground, and jab my staff forward like a spear into the center of the oncoming Ratman. The mana brimming within me surges forth at my motion. The Ratman seizes as the staff strikes him hundreds of thousands of volts spread through him, and falls backward.

I hear the wind begin to howl, as the air all around me coalesces to a point beyond the canal at the tip of the cane of the tall Ratman mage. I aim my staff toward him. Before I could will the mana up my arm and out of the staff, the four remaining archers let loose in my direction. I move my staff upward, and will the mana already flowing up the staff out of the rounded edges of the shaft. A wall of electricity raises up, and the oncoming arrows turn to ash as they collide against it.

The ball of swirling wind at the edge of the Ratman's cane flies toward me, as the archers nock a fresh set of arrows. Those that had tapered off to flank Shawn were getting closer; just now passing by the spot where they raised themselves from the waters of the canal. I swing my staff and force the mana burning in my core to follow through with the swing. A full 180 degrees around me, like an arc.

A blade of blue lightning spits forth and slices through the air. An edge of it collides against the first of the group of three Ratmen. It collapses forward, and slides to a stop against the rough marble; smoke curls from the seared flesh, and blood flows freely from its ears, mouth, and bubbling black eyes. The other two, however, rushed toward me. One of them fades as they enter my blind spot on my left-hand side.

The blade slices through the ball of oncoming wind; that dissipates at the heat of the polarized air and continues over the canal. The mage manages to raise a pillar of water in front of it to block the blade from colliding with it. The peripheries of the blade, however, continued and struck the line of archers. One falls into the canal, while another falls to its knees and stays there, while the other managed to stay on its feet; twitching. The bow it held in its hand was now ash.

My ears ring. The approaching Ratmen's padded feet are silent to me. I swivel my head until both of the approaching Ratmen come into sight. The one to my left swings its blade out of my vision, while the other stabs forward with its short sword. I can't move. Just the twitching of my muscles to do so sends the mana constantly flooding into me careening through my body and up to my heart.

I hold up my staff to block the swing and twist my body so that the stab would collide against the plates of my arm. The short sword slides off the gauntlet, and I slam the hammer of my right fist into the side of the head of its wielder. Zeus' mana floods up my arm and blew out like a stick of dynamite. Gore and splintered bone scatter beyond it. I hear and feel a snapping in that arm, but there is no pain. All are overwhelmed by the never-ending flow of mana.

The other Ratman stabs with its saber and catches me in the side. The tip parts the rusted chain near my waist and slides into my hip. I grab hold of its wrist and slam my bloated fist into the creature's face. Once more, the divine mana explodes from the snout of the Ratman. The snout collapses in on itself and its head jerked backward, snapping its neck.

A ball of wind and water slams into my shoulder, and my feet leave the ground I flip through the air until I ram my head into the wall. I push myself up to a kneeling position, swaying. A trickle of blood robs me of the vision in my right eye. The mana goes wild inside of my body, and I force it out of my body through the staff I still cling to....and then it stops, and I fall forward. The minute had ended, and all the mana in my body floods from my body out the way it came from.

All the pain that had been muted by that powerful mana assails me all at once, and I fall forward, face pressed against that rough stone.